“—he’s dying—”
Not until hours later do we finally move from our cramped spots. In the distance looms the arena, its lights illuminating the street encircling it. I wonder if they’ve done anything differently with Adena and Aramin since the assassination attempt. If they’ve secured them more, our plans just became more complicated.
That’s when the impossible happens. I feel a sudden tug through my bond with Talin. It’s not the tenuous connection we have in our sleep, in that unreal dream world, where we seem to have little control over when we get to speak. No, this is conscious and deliberate.
It’s Talin reaching out directly to me.
Red.
It’s such a shock that at first I don’t answer. Must be dreaming. Talin should be at the Premier’s side right now, following his orders and making sure he’s safe. Why would she reach out to me now, when she insisted I go away?
But her voice comes through unmistakably.
Red, I need your help.
I close my eyes. Now I really must be dreaming. But when I open my eyes, I see Jeran looking at me in bemusement, his gaze focused on the small smile that’s emerged on my face.
What do you need?I ask her.
Adena and Aramin, she responds.Constantine is in a fury, and he’s going to take it out on them. He’s moving up the games to tomorrow. Adena and Aramin aren’t going to survive another round. I know it. But I can’t free them. My hands are tied.
Talin must truly be afraid for them, if she’s finally reaching out to me. My relief and fear clash at the thought.
We can get to them, I tell her. I look over again at the arena.We just have no code for the keys they keep. Jeran says the guards at the arena don’t have them.
I can get the code to you.
Across from me, Jeran’s eyes widen as he searches my face. Even though he doesn’t know what we’re saying through our bond, he can see the light sparking in my expression, the possibility of something.
How?I ask Talin.When?
Tonight.Her voice sounds hurried and tense.Midnight, at the northern thoroughfare.
My heart starts pounding.Will I see you in person?
She doesn’t answer right away, but I can sense her answer in the careful emotions that leak to me.
Not for long, she finally replies.But I’ll be there.
My smile widens. My hand curls into a fist. I can sense the old Talin sparking to life, the Striker, the Basean, the survivor, her ferocious light breaking through the cracks in the walls. The strength of her permeates our link, and all I see in this moment is the same girl who once stood before me and defended me, eyes flashing.
She is back.
Then we’ll be there, I say.No matter what.
25
TALIN
The rest of the night settles into anuneasy calm as Constantine remains in his chamber. The number of guards posted around the palace stays high, and as I head into my room in the same hall, my keen ears can pick up their added footsteps echoing down the halls. Outside in the city, unrest roils. Extra troops are called to quell pockets of violence, but even from this far inside the palace grounds, I can hear the distant roar of potential rebels protesting against the soldiers. Of shots being fired.
As soon as I close my door, I bolt for the bathroom. There, everything in my stomach comes up, and I hurl over and over into the bathtub until there is nothing left in me. The sourness in my mouth reminds me too much of the tang of blood in the air. When I close my eyes, all I can see is the dead girl’s limp figure lying near the dais of the Sun Dial. It morphs into the corpses of Tomm and Pira.
The events of the past two days are all too much.
Through the sickness that swirls inside me, I feel Red’s energy stir. There is fear laced through the thread linking us.
And a new warmth, too. Because in spite of everything, at least he ishere with me again. At least the thrum of his presence in my mind is a reminder that I’m not alone.
